Libyan action not terrorism, but an act of war

Saturday, September 22, 2012

By GORDON SMITH gordonesmith@verizon.net

The recent attack on our embassy in Libya is not an act of terrorism, rather is an act of war. Embassies and consulates are the property of sovereign nations. Armed Libyan assailants, not Islamic terrorists killed Ambassador Stevens in the initial attack. They used the horde of screaming Muslims to cover the attack so they could hide their crime from the world and blame it on an uncontrolled mob. President Obama failed to take action to protect our embassy as he continues to hide his head in the sand to protect his Muslim friends.

The Muslims observed his weakness and launched coordinated mass demonstrations at our embassies and consulates from Mauritania to Indonesia. These demonstrations continue as I write this article, ensuring that anti-American sentiment will continue for the foreseeable future.

The actions against our embassies place all Americans traveling in these regions at risk of kidnapping or assassination. The Department of State has issued strong travel warnings for Americans in, or traveling through, Lebanon; Tunisia; Sudan; Algeria, and of course, Libya. The warnings are strong and clear. If you are in these countries, get out while you can! (Here is an example, http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_5776.html).

It seems that Muslims in these nations have forgotten how the American military saved them from their own despotic and dictatorial leaders. Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq by fear. If anyone contested Saddam's authority, they and their families would be rounded up. The families would be tortured and killed in front of their fathers and mothers. They have also forgotten Gaddafi's rule of terror as he arrested and executed thousands of his own people. Now, like lemmings, Muslim extremists are being openly encouraged to kill Americans anyway they can, any place they can, any time they can.

This year, we sent over $20 billion to Muslim countries as part of our foreign aid program. These amounts represent over 60% of our foreign aid budget. In addition, we provided these ruthless governments with money to purchase weapons that can be used against their own citizens or worse, Americans. Let's be frank! This money is not foreign aid; it is bribe money! The American people believe that these funds are intended to help the nation that receives our funding. The truth is that our funds often go into the pockets of the despots and their cronies. We cannot buy peace with our dollars! All we buy is a temporary respite that will be followed by a request for more money and threats of further attacks against Americans. It is time to tell our President and the Congress to stop sending blood money disguised as foreign aid to Muslim countries. Make it known that foreign aid will resume only when their Muslim population stops burning embassies and killing Christians.

As an example, let's look at our "ally" Pakistan. Currently we provide them with $4.3 billion annually in foreign and military aid. Last year, Pakistan implemented a seven month-long blockade to prevent NATO and the United States from supplying their troops in Afghanistan. Our President and our Congress failed us because they did not immediately cut off foreign aid to the Pakistani government. Instead we entered into long negotiations over several months. I'm sure our government made concessions to the Pakistanis yet these concessions were not made public. Pakistan is not a friend of the United States. They openly persecute Christians, throwing hand grenades into schools and burning down Christian churches. The Muslim masses love burning Christians alive. For example, they burned 50 Christians alive in Nigeria (http://global.christianpost.com/news/fifty-christians-burned-alive-in-pa...).

The President and his spin-doctors find ways to hide the truth from the American public. They continue to support barbaric political leaders in other countries. When news of atrocities hits the American press, they launch a quick cover-up as they did with the murder of Ambassador Stevens. The President and the mainstream press continue to support Muslim potentates. They may express outrage at the atrocities committed by the Muslim radicals but they continue to support and fund the government's that harbor these despicable criminals.

The current administration has turned away from our only ally in the Middle East, Israel. I don't know why this happened. All I know is that we are now supporting brutal Islamic radicals across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. As a nation we can no longer accept the continued attacks on Americans and our allies Britain and Israel. It is time to break off diplomatic relations with those countries that permit the Muslim hordes to plunder our embassies. Under international law, embassies must be protected by the host nation. This means that Libya must protect the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and the embassy in Tripoli. The Pakistanis, the Egyptians and all other Muslim nations must ensure that our embassies and consulates remain safe.

So what should the administration do if another embassy is it attacked and the host government does not defend our embassy and our citizens? The answer is simple. We should use the Marines defend our embassies, our consulates and American representatives wherever they may be in the world. If marauders attempt to invade our sovereign property in other nations, then the marines should fire warning shots over their heads. If they continue to attack our assets, then we should to shoot to kill. The host nations need to understand that we will not permit the dragging of another American ambassador or U.S. citizen from a burning building by a throng of bloodthirsty marauders. (http://www.examiner.com/article/video-shows-ambassador-s-body-being-drag...). We will protect our people and we will do it with helicopters, bombers and Marines who are authorized to use deadly force to protect our people and our assets.

If attacks against American interests continue, then let's close down our embassies and withdraw from countries that cannot protect them. Let's bring our people home as passengers not as corpses. If this means we must abandon the uncivilized parts of the world, then so be it. We cannot police the globe. Like the British at the end of the Victorian era, it is time to give up the Empire and protect the homeland. We should immediately stop funding Islamic governments and redirect our foreign aid to countries that are our friends and our allies. In addition, we should no longer provide military aid and weaponry to nations that may use them in the future against the United States and our citizens. Stop the funding! Stop the armaments! More importantly, stop supporting governments of nations that hate Americans.